Blur announce 2014 dates

Blur have announced Australian, New Zealand, and Japan dates for 2014. The Greatest Hits tour shows no signs of slowing down! 

Very happy for all of you in these places who will get to see them! 

Blur 21: The Exhibition

This will be in Dublin this Thursday, August 1, from noon to 8pm. If you're in town for the show, check out the exhibit!

New Book Review Coming Soon

My complimentary copy of the new Blur biography arrived today (thank you, Omnibus Press)! The agreement was they would send it to me for free and I have to read and review it on my website and on the Blur forums. 

I'm looking forward to reading it and getting started!

AUDIO: Live at Picnic Afisha, Russia July 13, 2013

Here is the show from last night available for download. Enjoy!

UPDATED Tour Schedule for 2013

Here's the most up-to-date tour schedule for the remainder of 2013:

3 Jul Gdynia, Poland
5 Jul Werchter, Belgium
7 Jul Belfort, France
13 Jul Moscow, Russia
27 Jul Nyon, Switzerland
28 Jul Milan, Italy
29 Jul Rome, Italy
1 Aug Dublin, Ireland
7 Aug Oslo, Norway
9 Aug Budapest, Hungary
6 Sep Berlin, Germany
29 Oct Lima, Peru
2 Nov Buenos Aires, Argentina
4 Nov Montevideo, Uruguay
7 Nov Santiago, Chile
9 Nov Sao Paulo, Brazil

AUDIO: Live at Provinnsirock Festival, Finland June 14, 2013

Here's an upgraded audio rip of the video I posted earlier this week. Thanks to Ville for preparing and sharing this!

http://we.tl/5iTd1YIf2D

Enjoy!

VIDEO: Blur live at Provinnsirock Festival, Finland June 14, 2013

I found a copy of an audience-shot video of ~60% of the show...I've uploaded it for you all, so go HERE to download it.

While the press said that Blur were the highlight of the festival and they sound in fine form, it's jarring how thin the crowd are in the video! It's especially crazy when contrasted to the mad crowd when they played the same festival in 1999.

In any event, enjoy!

AUDIO: Blur live at Asia-World Arena, Hong Kong, May 6, 2013

Here's a link to Blur's Hong Kong show from last week (link courtesy of Dom on the Blur forums). 

Enjoy!

http://www.4shared.com/zip/irmmYw-2/blur_hong_kong_06-may-2013.html

New Album from Hong Kong?

The big news from this week is that onstage in Hong Kong, Damon told the crowd that since their Japanese and Tapei gigs got cancelled, they may spend the free week recording a new album. See the video in this article for the actual quote:

http://www.nme.com/news/blur--2/70142

Or if you just want to see the video:

What do you think? Are you getting your hopes up, or being a bit cynical and skeptical (like me) that this is just Damon saying another thing that ends up not happening? What do you think? Either way, it's made for some interesting debate!

AUDIO: Blur live at Coachella Festival, Indio, CA April 12, 2013

Here's Blur's headlining set from last night's Coachella Festival, freshly recorded. A rather subdued set to an awful crowd, but the guys give it their best. Link below, let me know what you think or if there are any problems with the download. (the link will be only be active for 2 weeks so grab it ASAP!).

Download link HERE

Enjoy!

But Because it *is* April Fool's Day...

Tokyo Rocks Festival Cancelled

The Tokyo Rocks Festival in Japan that Blur was due to appear at in May has been cancelled...

http://louderthanwar.com/tokyo-rocks-2013-cancelled/

This is unfortunate for the band's Japanese fans, who are known as being amongst the most rabid and fanatical of all of their fans, especially judging from multiple bootleg recordings and videos of shows. They also seem to bring the best and wildest side of Blur out, so this is really too bad.

It's still unclear why this was cancelled...what do you think? Any ideas or info why?

(And NO, this is not an April Fool's post! I posted this same news item on my Facebook and Twitter pages yesterday...this is legit!)